Dream House
by LemonStar
Summary: ..Daryl/Beth.. From the "House Call" series. "You want this house. I can see it. Outside, maybe not but the more we've been walking around in here… your gears are turning and I know you're imagining everything you can do in here. And I know you could do it, Daryl. You could make this house so beautiful again."
1. Chapter 1

**Please don't hate me for posting yet another story. This one will only have two parts to it though and it has been in my head since the last chapter of _Orange Sky_.**

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**Part One. **

"How much is it?" Beth asked, looking up at the house.

"Forty thousand," Daryl grunted, looking up at it as well though his face was twisted into a frown, only growing heavier the longer he looked at it. "Should be givin' the damn thing away for free."

Beth would usually disagree and try to look on the bright side of things but looking at the house, she couldn't exactly see it at the moment. The farmhouse was falling apart to put it lightly. It had been white years earlier but weather had worn the paint away and now it just looked dirty and fading into a smoky gray color. Most of the windows were broken and she didn't want to imagine the water damage inside. It was in the middle of an open field – the house sitting on several acres of land – and beside the house, there was a large oak tree as tall as the roof.

"It does look like a hundred people were murdered inside," Beth commented and Daryl smirked, looking to her. She looked at him and gave him a smile. "What?" She laughed a little. "It does and you know it does. It's probably terribly haunted inside."

"I already asked Rick to check out the history," Daryl said.

"Really?" Her eyes widen a bit at that.

"Knew you'd freak out about it," he shrugged, looking back towards the house.

They were holding hands and at his comment, she linked their fingers together and leaned in a little closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. They kept looking up at the house for a few more minutes.

"It could be something," she said softly. "Was definitely a nice house back in the day. Could be something again."

"Hmmmm," he grunted but said nothing more, looking at it, studying it. "Might as well go inside," he said. "If the outside's like this, can just imagine what the inside's like. It'll cost us more to fix it up than it will to buy this damn heap."

"Come on," Beth said, taking a step forward and gently tugging on his hand towards the house.

The porch steps creaked beneath them and Daryl pulled the key from his pocket that they had gotten from the realtor's office that morning. The screen door was barely hanging on its hinges and he was worried that the lock of the front door was so damn rusted, the key would snap off.

Luckily though, that didn't happen and he pushed the front door open into the dark hallway. He reached a hand out to the light switch on the wall but when he flipped it up, the light on the ceiling didn't turn on. Not surprisingly. There was enough sunlight coming in through the windows though but as he looked around, he realized that he didn't necessarily want that much light to see how shitty everything around them was.

He stepped aside so Beth could enter the foyer. It was all wood. The floors and the paneling that went halfway up the wall before faded and curling wallpaper went up the rest of the wall to the ceiling. It had been green wallpaper with roses but it was all so faded now, it was hard to tell what it had once been. There was a staircase in front of them that led to the second floor with a newel post at the bottom and it was no surprise when he touched the round finial at the top of the post and it rattled loosely. He sighed heavily and he was already making a list in his head of everything that would have to be done if he and Beth decided to get this piece of shit house.

He knew their family needed a bigger house. It had been small when it had just been him and Beth and then they started adding kids and now, it was just impractical to live there with their family of five. Could they? Probably but it was already damn uncomfortable and would only continue to grow more so as the kids got bigger.

Rick Grimes had thought of them when this house went on the market. It was an old farmhouse and it had been abandoned for years, the owner living in Arizona for years before finally deciding to just sell it. He knew the Dixons liked living in the middle of the woods, slightly isolated from everyone, and this farmhouse – while not in the woods – was still on a nice chunk of land with plenty of distance from anyone else, the woods bordering their property so Daryl could still go hunting anytime.

They had decided to drop the kids off with Hershel and Annette for the afternoon so they could go check the house out. Daryl didn't expect anything to come of it and they didn't mention a word to the kids that they were looking at the house. This place was nothing more than a fucking money pit.

He looked to Beth as she walked further into the house. To the left, there was a room that looked as if it was some sort of study, bookshelves built into the room and a fireplace in the far wall. To the right, there was the living room, another fireplace with a bay window and a window seat. It didn't surprise Daryl when Beth went right for that. There were still cushions – once red but coated with a thick layer of dust but Beth didn't seem to care as she smiled faintly and sat down, looking through the window out onto the front yard.

"Look, Daryl," she said, pointing, and he came to stand behind her. The oak tree beside the house still had a tire swing hanging from one of the branches by a piece of thick rope. "The kids would love that. And it looks like a good tree house tree."

"You're gettin' way too ahead of yourself," was all he said. "Come on. Still a lot to look at," he said and he took her hand, pulling her to her feet again.

"That would be a good wall for the piano," she said, pointing to the far wall.

Daryl didn't say anything. He moved them from the living room through the open doorway that took them into the next room that was probably supposed to be the dining room, a lamp fixture hanging from the ceiling with spider webs built throughout it. The large window overlooking the back of the property was broken and he found the rock on the floor responsible.

"We could actually have dinner parties," Beth said.

"Sounds like somethin' awful," he grunted and she laughed a little, her fingers twining with his again.

He pushed open the swinging door that led into the kitchen and he let out a breath.

"There's mold," he said.

"How can you tell?" She asked, looking at the dust covered countertops and the ancient appliances. She doubted that stove or refrigerator would ever work again.

"Smell," he said. "You can't smell that?"

"I'm smelling all sorts of things and I have no idea what any of them are," she admitted. "Mold in the walls?"

He nodded and didn't say anything. "We'd have to rip this dry wall all down, clean it up and put new walls up. Bet the electrical's fucked in here, too." He looked up towards the ceiling where sure enough, there was a large water stain from something leaking above.

He then looked to Beth and she was looking around the dirty and dank room with a small frown.

"M'sorry, Beth," he said and she looked at him instantly. "This place is fucked. It'd cost us forty thousand to buy this house and prob'ly another fifty to make it livable."

She nodded and gave him a small smile. "I know." She looked around for a moment before back at him. "I just liked the idea about maybe living in a farmhouse like this."

He nodded, too. "Yeah, I know. I really liked the idea, too."

There was a door in the kitchen and he opens it, it creaking on its hinges. As suspected, it lead down into the basement.

"No way," Beth quickly shook her head. "There is no way I'm going into that basement, Daryl Dixon," she said.

Daryl just smirked though and took hold of her hand. "Don't think I'll keep you safe?"

He tugged her down the rickety wooden stairs with him, listening to her sigh heavily behind him, and her hand clutched his tightly. The windows were narrow and allowed little light in but it allowed enough in for him to see what he was looking for.

"What are we looking for?" Beth asked.

"Furnace, water tank, and I'm checkin' on how sound the foundation looks," he said. "Stay here," he put his hands on her arms and stopped her at the bottom of the stairs. "There might be nails or somethin' rusty on this floor and I don't need you steppin' on it."

"What about you?" She asked.

"I got 'nother tetanus shot just last year, 'member?" He said. "I'm good to go."

Beth stayed right where he stopped her and she watched him as he shuffled around. It wasn't like she knew what to look for with any of those things he said anyway. So she just watched him as he inspected one thing and then another, muttering to himself on occasion.

"How does it look?" She asked.

"Well, 'lieve it or not, the foundation's sound," he said. "Can hardly believe it. Wood holdin' up these floorboards are good, too. Would of thought for sure all of this would 'ave been rotted. Would probably add a few more boards though for some extra support. 'specially with the way Hunter runs like a buffalo stampede."

Beth smiled at that. "Makes sense."

"Water tank's older than you, prob'ly. We'd need a new one. Leakin' at the bottom."

"And the furnace?"

"Can't tell," he shook his head. "Hasn't been on for years." He came back to her, his hands taking hold of her hips. "Let's go up to the second floor. There's water damage on the kitchen ceilin' and I need to see where it's comin' from."

"Why are we still looking? I thought we decided this isn't worth it," she said.

He shrugged. "Just curious to see how fucked everythin' really is. If the structure is sound… everything else can be fixed."

"Quite a different tune from what you were saying just seconds ago upstairs," she pointed out to him, feeling the corners of her mouth twitch.

He shrugged then and looked around. "It's bad but Dixons aren't afraid of a lil' bad."

Beth couldn't help but smile at that. She wasn't being naïve or stupid. She knew this house would be a bad investment for them. She had been in charge of the family's finances ever since she and Daryl got married and she knew exactly how much money they had to work on a house like this.

And yet, she couldn't help but kind of want this – a bigger house for their family, her kids growing up in a farmhouse like she had – and she could see the gleam in Daryl's eyes, his mind turning over all of the projects restoring this house would entail and how she knew he would be able to do them all. This house would be his masterpiece.

"I am curious to see the bedrooms," she admitted and that made him smile.

They went back up the stairs and she swore that she heard a high-pitched squeaking from one of the cabinets. She didn't look to investigate though. She would have been surprised if the house _didn't_ have mice. She headed towards the front staircase and Daryl was right behind her as she headed up to the second floor.

There was a door to the left at the top of the stairs and Beth poked her head in before stepping fully into the room. "Oh my gosh, Daryl! Look how big it is!" She couldn't help but give a quick spin. "This is like three of our bedrooms now."

Daryl went past her into the bathroom attached to the master bedroom. They would actually have their own bathroom. And as suspected, the thing was a fucking disaster. He smelled mold in here, too, and crouching down, he opened the cabinets beneath the sink, not surprised to see that the pipes were completely rusted.

"Daryl!" Beth suddenly screamed.

Daryl shot up so fast, he almost hit the back of his head on the sink. He rushed from the bathroom but she was no longer in the bedroom. He found her in the bedroom across the hall and as soon as she saw him, she nearly leapt at him.

"What the fuck, Beth?" He asked, his heart pounding, lodged in his throat. But then he saw the open closet door and the raccoon inside, pressing itself against the wall. He sighed and looked at her. "How long we been married?" He asked.

She scowled at him. "We don't have wild animals running around inside our house, Daryl Dixon," she frowned.

He smirked and looked back towards the animal. "Wish I had my bow with me. Could of gotten us some dinner to take back with us."

She sighed but said nothing as she gave him another look and then turned, leaving the room. There were three bedrooms plus the master bedroom and two full baths up here, as well. She couldn't believe how big this house was. She had almost forgotten what living in a big house like this was like. She loved hers and Daryl's little home but over the years, adding three kids to their family, it made the house seem miniscule even with Daryl adding rooms onto it. There was only so much he could do to make their home as comfortable as it could be.

She walked into the bedroom at the front of the house, the window overlooking the oak tree. She could imagine Luke in this bedroom, his easel right next to this window as he painted the light streaming through the tree leaves. She felt a soft breeze blowing through her hair and she looked up. She sighed.

"Hole in the ceiling!" She called out.

"In this room, too!" Daryl called back from the bedroom next door.

She sighed again and left the bedroom, heading to the one Daryl stood in. "So, can you patch roofs, too?" She asked as he stood there, looking up at the rather large hole. The room smelled like mildew and she wrinkled her nose.

"I can do anythin'," he said, shooting her a smirk and she couldn't believe when she smiled at that. She watched as he kneeled down and she jumped slightly as he easily pulled up one of the floorboards.

"Daryl Dixon, what are you doing? We do not own this house!"

She wasn't sure why but she felt her heart beating rapidly and she glanced nervously over her shoulder as if she was expecting someone there to catch them and scold them for damaging this property. Even more so than it already was.

"Some of these boards are rotten," he then stated, ripping up another one. "This place is gonna need plenty of lumber. Maybe I can talk to T about it. He can give me a deal or somethin' if I explain to him what I'm doin'."

"Well, you are one of his best customers," she nodded. "So… does this mean…"

He lifted his head and looked at her. "What?"

"Do you want this house?" She asked.

He didn't answer right away. He stood up and shoved his hands in his coat pockets and his eyes never left her face. "What do you want?"

She smiled and shook her head. "I asked you first. You do everything for us and for once, we are going to do something you want to do. And if this is what you want to do, restoring this… hovel, then that is what we are going to do."

"It's a waste of money, Beth, and we don't have it," he reminded her.

"We have the money to buy the house," she said. "We have the AAP money that we never touch and I still have my savings account that I haven't touched in years and my parents-"

"No," Daryl cut her off before she could even finish that line of thought.

"It's not a bad thing to have someone help you, Daryl. Especially family and especially when it's for something like this. My parents have always wanted to help us out but I knew we would always be able to make it on our own. But this…" she looked around the room, her eyes lingering on the hole in the ceiling before bringing her look back to him and he was staring right at her. "You want this house. I can see it. Outside, maybe not but the more we've been walking around in here… your gears are turning and I know you're imagining everything you can do in here."

Daryl didn't say anything. He stared at her for a moment and she didn't know if he would say anything.

"And I know you could do it, Daryl. You could make this house so beautiful again."

Daryl still didn't say anything but she could tell he was thinking all of this through. She took a step towards him and then another, closing the space between them until her fingers could close around the lapels of his coat and she tilted her chin up to look at him. He looked down at her so their eyes could meet and while his entire face remained blank, she knew her eyes were sparkling. She wanted to do this for him. She wasn't entirely sure of it herself but if she knew that anyone could make this work for them, it would be him. Daryl Dixon was the sort of man who gave and gave and didn't expect anything in return and it was his turn to get something, damn it.

And if her husband wanted this falling apart, piece of a wreck house, she was going to make sure this would happen for him.

"And our house now… we could use the money we get from selling it," she said softly, not sure how he would react to that.

That house in the woods had been nothing but a hunting shack when Daryl had bought it years earlier and had fixed it up into the livable house it was now. It was a good house. Such a good house. She couldn't imagine them having trouble selling it.

But that house was special to Daryl. For years, it had been just him in the woods, his own sanctuary. And then she had come and they had gotten married and had lived in their own little world out there for so long.

Daryl looked at her. "And where are we gonna live in the meantime? This house isn't gonna be fit for humans for a while," he said and his hands slowly slid to a rest on her hips and she smiled faintly as the front of their bodies brushed together.

"With my parents?" She suggested. He actually cracked half a smile at that and she couldn't help but laugh. "What? My parents love us. They would be more than happy to have us stay with them for a while until this house is up and running."

Daryl's smile faded and he stared at her. She made sure to keep her eyes locked with his because sometimes, he would do this. He would just stare at her and study her and he was always looking for something specific. What that was, she didn't know but she made sure she stayed still so he would always be able to find it.

"This could turn out to be a huge fuckin' mistake and then we would have no money and no place to live," he said.

She didn't tell him that they would always have a place to live because her parents would let them stay with them for as long as they needed. Daryl wouldn't want to hear that. Her husband was a very proud man and he had to be the one who put a roof over his family's head. He didn't want anyone else taking care of them except him. Very proud and very stubborn. And she loved him so much for both qualities.

"Daryl," she said his name softly and her hands lifted to the sides of his neck, thumbs brushing along his jaw line, making sure their eyes remained locked and they looked no where else but into one another's. "Do you want this house? And just remember, I'm your wife and we've been together long enough that no matter what you say to me right now, I already know the answer."

Daryl stared at her for a moment and though she could tell he was reluctant to do so, she saw him give a small smirk, his eyes falling from hers, looking down to the ground. Beth pushed herself up on her toes and kissed him affectionately on the forehead.

Her heart was beating in her chest so quickly and her stomach had dropped nervously to her feet but it would be okay. They could do this. _Daryl_ could do this. She had always believed in him and she knew he could do anything. This house was going to be no exception.

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**Thank you very much for reading and please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

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**2/3.**

"Do you know what you're doin'?" Daryl asked with a frown, looking over to where his brother-in-law stood with a nail gun in his hand.

"I'm insulted by that question," Shawn said.

"Just don't shoot yourself in the foot. I don't need Annette killin' me 'cause her son's an idiot," Daryl said.

"Trust me, Daryl, she is well aware of the fact that I'm an idiot and she doesn't blame you for it," Shawn grinned and Daryl smirked a little, turning back and pulling his face mask back over his nose and mouth before turning the sander back on. He had almost gotten through the stack of wood planks he had wanted to get smoothed down that evening for the new floors in the first floor study.

He and Beth still weren't entirely sure what they were going to use the room for. Right now, she was thinking maybe it would be a good play room. "Somewhere to throw the kids when we can't stand the sight of them," she had laughed.

Buying the house had been easier than he had thought and Hershel had stepped in, helping with process. They had gotten the asking price down to twenty-five thousand with some negotiating and the owner just wanted to unload the damn property and get at least some money for it so he wasn't too interested in playing hardball over losing fifteen thousand dollars. They had also put their house in the woods on the market and as Beth suspected, they had no problem selling it, it being for sale for only a week before they had an offer on it. The real estate agent had said that with all of the upkeep they had done to it, it was actually quite an attractive house – as if she was surprised that someone with the Dixon last name would be able to keep anything nice.

They sold it to someone from Atlanta who was looking for a weekend retreat.

Every morning, Daryl went to work a full day at the garage and then would go straight to the house, continuing with whatever project he had been working on from the day before and every Saturday and Sunday was filled with never ending work because it seemed as soon as he fixed one thing, he discovered yet another problem.

He had plenty of help. Rick came as often as he could as did Martinez, Shawn and Glenn. Merle came from time to time, dropping off more materials that Daryl was sure he had stolen from somewhere but he never asked and Merle never told and T-Dog came on the weekends, the man a good carpenter like Daryl. And Beth was almost always there, too, doing as much as she could do to help though she admitted she didn't know how to do much and Daryl spent a lot of the time showing her how to do something and she always apologized for wasting his time.

"You ain't wastin' my time," he said. "But you're gonna break your finger if you hold the hammer like that," he said as he adjusted her hand around the hammer handle and then showed her how to hold the nail so she didn't smash her finger.

"It's going to be such a beautiful house, Daryl," Beth smiled at him before she looked around the front foyer where he had already worked on the floors and the walls and the front door. The windows had been cleaned and sunshine poured through them and she looked around and her smile just grew and grew.

"You gotta let me know what kind of wallpaper you want," he said. "Or we could just paint the walls rather than mess with the wallpaper and the glue and all that shit."

"Could we paint it yellow?" She asked, touching one of the walls with light fingers.

"Whatever you want," he said, crouched down from where he was laying the floorboards down. "T's been givin' me discounts 'cause of how much I've been buyin' and I already told him I'll need paint for the inside. Figured we'd have to hire some guys to paint the outside. You still want a white house?"

Beth watched him for a moment and then went to him, bending over and wrapping her arms around his neck from behind. He stopped his work and turned his head, looking at her with a smirk. She didn't say anything and just leaned into him, pressing her lips to his. She then gave him a series of shorter kisses and it made him smirk again.

"A white house with a red front door," she smiled and he smiled a little, too.

"You got it," he said and she beamed this time before kissing him again.

"That's so damn boring, Bethy," Shawn spoke up.

"Well, when you finally buy a house, you can paint it any color you want," she said.

"Orange. Definitely orange," he then said as if there was never another possibility.

Beth finally pulled Daryl out of the house around four that afternoon so they could go back to the farm for the night. If she didn't physically pull him, he would just spend all night in the house, working until he passed out.

She told him there was no rush. She told him that they could take their time on the renovations but she knew he didn't want to stay at the Greene farm forever. He was grateful to Hershel and Annette for letting them stay but Daryl didn't want to wear out his welcome and Hershel and Annette loved their grandkids but in Daryl's opinion, they were just not used to having little kids around all of the time anymore. He wanted to get his family into their own home and Beth understood that but she also knew that Daryl had to pace himself or sooner or later, he was going to completely break down from exhaustion.

"Daddy!" Hunter came running out of the door the instant Beth stopped the truck in front of the house. Daryl stepped from the truck and Hunter threw himself at him, Daryl easily catching him in his arms and hoisting him up. "How's the house? Can I come and help with the house? I want to help with the house, daddy."

"Not ready yet," Daryl shook his head and carried him inside. "Still too dangerous."

"I can handle it," Hunter said with the utmost seriousness possible for a six-year-old.

"'Course you can," Daryl nodded. "You're a Dixon."

Inside the house, Abby was crying – wailing more like it – and Beth rushed off to see what was wrong, finding her in her mother's arms in the kitchen, Annette looking a bit on the frazzled side as she tried to calm her granddaughter down again.

"I'm sorry, mom," Beth apologized instantly, taking her daughter into her arms.

"It's alright, Beth," Annette did her best to give her a smile but she looked so relieved that they were home and her granddaughter was no longer in her arms. She took a deep breath. "What would you kids like for dinner?" She said, turning to the stove.

"Mom, don't." Beth held Abby in one arm and reached for Annette with her other hand. "Stop. You don't have to wait on us. You and daddy can go out and do something or make dinner for yourselves. You have done more than enough."

Annette looked at her for a moment and then everything inside of her seemed to deflate. "No, Bethy. No. I'm fine. You are our guests."

"No, mom. We're family. You are doing the biggest favor to me and Daryl letting us stay here while we're working on the house and we never moved in, expecting you to wait on us hand and foot," Beth said.

"Mom!" Luke came running in.

"Mommy!" Hunter came running in right on his heels.

"Dad said I could help paint the house!" Luke said with a wide grin.

"Daddy won't let me in the house!" Hunter shouted at the same time.

"Alright, alright," Beth began shepherding them from the kitchen. "Let's take this away from here and give your grandma a break."

"I want to go in the house!" Hunter was still shouting. "I got my tetanus shot! Mommy, let me go in the house!"

At all of the shouting, Abby began to whimper again and Beth ushered the children up the stairs to the guest rooms where they were staying for the time being.

"Hunter Thomas, you stop this instant!" Beth said sternly with a frown. "If your daddy doesn't want you going into the house then you are not going into the house."

Hunter looked up at her with his bottom lip pushed out in a dramatic pout but she only looked at him and raised an eyebrow, daring him to say something more. They heard the shower turn off in the bathroom behind the closed door and Beth laid Abby down on the floor, grabbing for the nearby diaper bag.

Luke had plopped himself down on the bed and Hunter jumped up next to him, the mattress springs squeaking beneath him. The bathroom door opened and Beth looked over her shoulder to see Daryl step out of the bathroom, wearing jeans and buttoning up a fresh flannel shirt.

"Daddy-" Hunter began.

"No," was all Daryl said. He looked down to Beth. "Think I'm gonna head back," he said and she wasn't entirely surprised but she still frowned nonetheless. "I'll eat somethin' real quick but I want to finish up the floors in the study so I can start on the livin' room tomorrow."

"Daryl, it's going to be dark soon. I don't want you working there at night with some crappy little lantern as your only light," she said and then snapping shut Abby's onesie, she hoisted the baby up in her arms and then stood up, looking at him.

"I'll be fine," he grunted, reaching out and taking Abby into his arms. "Won't take me long. I'll just go and finish that room up. I won't be able to sleep tonight if I don't."

Beth looked at him for a moment before sighing softly and looking to the boys on the bed. "Boys, can you please leave for a moment?" She asked though it wasn't really a question at all and they could hear the stern tone she was using that let them all know that this wasn't a request.

Luke got off the bed and grabbed the hood of Hunter's sweatshirt, tugging him towards the door.

"Luke, 'ere." Daryl went to him and passed Abby into his arms and then he closed the door behind the kids once they were gone. He looked back to Beth and sighed. "Don't look at me like that," he said. He sat down on the side of their bed and began tugging on his boots.

"Daryl, you have to stop," she came to stand in front of him. When he didn't stop lacing his boots, she put her hands on his cheeks and forced his head upwards so he was looking at her. "Daryl, stop. You have to stop. You're pushing yourself too hard."

"House ain't gonna fix itself, Beth," he said.

"No, it won't, but you can't fix it all in a week, Daryl," she replied back. "Daryl, I need you to slow down," she kneeled down on the floor in front of him and his eyes followed her, looking at her, not saying anything. "You're no good to me if you kill yourself. No husband. No house. And I am not going to live with my parents for the rest of my life."

She considered it a small triumph when he smirked a little at that.

"Please, baby," she said softly.

He looked at her for a passing moment and then another and then he sighed softly. He closed his eyes and she pushed herself up, hands still on his cheeks and she pressed her forehead to his.

"There's just too much. Too fuckin' much and I don't see how we're gonna-"

"We'll do it, Daryl," she said. "I promise. Just stop being so damn stubborn." He smirked a little easier now and she kissed the bridge of his nose. "Take your boots off, come downstairs, and we'll eat some dinner."

He looked at her a moment. "Yeah," he then nodded his head slightly.

She smiled. "Yeah." She kissed his lips this time and then stood up, grabbing his hands and tugging him up to his feet.

He slowed down – but not by much; hardly at all. Really, for just a couple of days before he picked it right back up again. Every day after work, he drove straight to the house and continued on the work he had left off from the night before and he worked until he was about to collapse and could barely make it home without falling asleep behind the wheel.

The plumbing was the biggest issue. Most of the pipes had to be replaced and Daryl almost wanted to just burn the whole house to the ground when he figured it out. He drove home with a heavy head and an even heavier sinking in his chest and he didn't go inside. Instead, he sat down on the front porch and pulled a cigarette out of his pocket, popping it between his lips. He didn't light it right away though.

It was fucked. He should have known. He _had_ known.

They never should have bought that damn house but he had been walking around inside of the broken, rotted walls and he had been unable to stop himself from imagining what it could look like; how _he_ could make it look and how this could be an amazing house for Beth and the kids. And Beth had stood there, looking up at him with her too-big eyes and believing in him that he could fix this house up. And over the years, he had become completely addicted to Beth believing in him like that.

He never should have given in though – both to her faith and his damn ideas. Ideas that were too damn big and grand and he should have known better.

He heard the screen door open and then slap shut again behind him but he didn't look over his shoulder to see who it was. He expected it to be Hershel. That man always seemed to know when Daryl was in a mood like this and would come and offer him some sage advice that would get him to wise up but honestly, that was the last thing Daryl wanted tonight because no matter what bullshit his father-in-law told him, they both knew it wouldn't be true. He and Beth had made a huge mistake and now, they didn't have a home at all.

But it was Beth, sitting down beside him with a small smile. "Hey, you," she said. Daryl didn't say anything. He finally lit the cigarette and blew out a stream of smoke. Beth watched him and reached out, brushing some hair back from his face. "It's getting long again," she said.

He didn't say anything as he took another drag from the cigarette. He expected Beth to keep talking but she fell quiet and stayed that way. Her hand fell away from his face and he wanted her to keep stroking his hair like that but he didn't want to say it. They sat there and looked over the dark farm, listening to the crickets in the grass and a hooting owl somewhere in the trees and he heard himself sigh softly.

"Is it bad?" She asked him softly and that was all she asked, falling silent again, looking at him and waiting for him to say something in response; something more than a grunt which was really all he wanted to give.

He held the cigarette between his thumb and index finger, watching it burn, not taking another puff and he stared at that rather than at her. "Can't fix it," he said.

She didn't say anything, wanting for him to explain more.

He took one more long drag of the cigarette and then dropped the butt onto the step, stubbing it out with the toe of his boot. "Too many bad pipes and I can't fix 'em all. Can't live in a house without runnin' water neither."

Beth still didn't say anything and he didn't know if he wanted her to or not.

"What do you want to do?" She finally asked in a soft voice.

He expected to feel angry but instead, he just felt a rush of disappointment. It was familiar to him. When he was little, Hunter's age and maybe even Luke's age, he would feel it over one thing or another – when he was gone and no one noticing when he came back, another Christmas or birthday with getting nothing. When he got older, he had worked hard to numb himself to everything around him so he would never feel it again but here he sat, Beth at his side, and he was feeling that wave of disappointment all over again as if he had never stopped.

He had wanted that house. Probably more than Beth and the kids had wanted it.

He had wanted to fix it up and make it some place beautiful and for the first time, raise a Dixon family in a nice, big home. Their home in the woods hadn't been shitty. Not at all. Beth had done her best to spruce it up and kept it as nice as possible but it had been too small and they had reached a point where Daryl would walk in and see how little room they all had to live there and he came to start to hate it.

"I don't know," he then said in a low, quiet voice. "Not 'nough money left over to buy some other house but don't want to stay here with your parents that much longer."

Beth nodded and tucked her hands underneath her knees to keep them warm and she leaned into him, resting her cheek on his shoulder. He wasn't sure how long they stayed out there but neither of them said another word.

On Saturday, he got dressed and ate breakfast and drove over to the house one more time with Luke. He supposed he just wanted to take one more look at things though there really wasn't a point to it. He saw two cars when he pulled up the drive. One, he recognized as Rick's car and the second was T-Dog's truck. And as he stepped out of his own truck, Daryl could hear banging of metal from inside. He frowned, his brow furrowed, as he climbed the steps, making sure Luke was still with him.

Following the noise, he headed down the stairs to the basement, finding Rick, T-Dog and another large dark man, the man easily able to reach up to the exposed pipes on the ceiling.

"Hey," Rick smiled, spotting him first. "Just get here?"

"What the hell's goin' on?" Daryl asked, frowning.

"Daryl, this is Tyreese. We were in the same fraternity at college together. Man owns his own plumbing company in Atlanta now. Gave him a call and he said he would come and take a look at this here," T-Dog gave him a grin.

The man named Tyreese pulled his hands away from the ceiling and approached Daryl with a smile and an extended hand. "Nice to meet you, Daryl," he said. "Your wife is best friends with my little sister."

"Sasha?" Daryl asked and Tyreese nodded. Daryl shook his hand. "This is my son, Luke," he said and Luke grinned, shaking Tyreese's hand as well as Tyreese smiled at him in return. "So what's goin' on?" He asked, stepping further into the basement and tilting his head upwards.

"Lots of corrosion but it's not a hopeless situation. Will take us a while though," Tyreese told him. "And between the four of us-"

"Five!" Luke blurt out.

Tyreese chuckled. "And between the five of us, we should be able to see to all of these pipe if we're all up for it."

"We are," Rick nodded.

"You good with drywall?" Tyreese looked to Daryl.

"He's the best!" Luke spoke up again excitedly. "He built a room for me and my brother and another one for our little sister."

"That's good," Tyreese nodded and smiled, looking down to Luke before back to Daryl. "We're probably going to be tearing into a lot of walls this weekend."

As Tyreese turned back to look up towards the ceiling, Daryl gave Rick a nudge.

"Beth call you?" Daryl asked him quietly with a frown.

"No," Rick shook his head. "She supposed to?"

Daryl looked at him for a moment to decide if he was being lied to or not but he knew Rick was shit at keeping a straight face if he was hiding something. He was a terrible poker player and his face right now was giving nothing away because Daryl knew there was nothing to give away. Beth hadn't called him to tell him about the pipes and Rick and T-Dog had showed up on their own complete with a plumber.

Daryl watched Tyreese work for a moment and just like that, he felt the weight of the disappointment in his chest begin to ebb away until it was completely gone and it had been hard to believe it had ever been there in the first place; that he had almost given up. He was a Dixon and Dixons never knew when to quit even when they probably should have.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I honestly can't even explain how much I love this particular AU of Beth and Daryl's life. Just imagining it puts a smile on my face and I wish it was possible to just live in here forever and I find myself thinking of so many other scenarios to write for them and this little life of theirs. This is a very domestic part.**

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…

**3/3.**

Beth felt silly. She had been working on the house for months right alongside Daryl and had seen it as it got closer and closer to the finished product but now as she walked through the rooms, her fingers twined with Daryl's, the kids running from room to room, shouting back and forth with excitement, she felt tears prick her eyes.

The air smelled of fresh paint and finished wooden floors; sunlight was streaming through the new windows with a few open, a soft breeze floating in. It all looked so beautiful, she honestly felt as if she was looking into the pages of a home magazine. But this wasn't _Southern Living_ or something like that. This was her home. Her family's home. They lived here and this was theirs. All theirs. And Daryl had worked his butt off to give this to them. Five months, almost six, and she couldn't believe that he was still standing and hadn't just collapsed into an exhausted heap. They had used all of the extra fifteen thousand they had saved from buying the house initially and she knew Daryl was proud of himself for not spending too much more than that, finding as many deals as he could along the way. They hadn't gone completely broke – which were both of their fears over the past few months and plenty of sleepless nights.

But he had done it. He had done it all and she doubted that this house had ever looked as good as it did now – even when it was first built.

She stood in their bedroom, looking around and remembering how it had been when they walked through this house for the first time. And even though she had seen the slow transformation of it every day, she could still hardly believe it.

She looked at Daryl then and he stood there, watching her. She laughed softly.

"Is this really ours?" She asked, feeling more tears spill down her cheeks but only more laughter bubbled in her throat.

It looked like he wanted to smile, too, his lips twitching. "'til Hunter burns it down."

She laughed and cried and hurried to him, throwing herself against him. He hugged her tightly, crushing her body to his, and she felt herself sobbing, seemingly unable to help herself. It was almost as if she had no idea what else to do. Telling him thank you seemed so entirely insufficient considering everything he had put himself through over the past few months to get this finished. He had built their family a home. How could a _thank you_ possibly be enough for something like that?

"You're never allowed to ask me for anythin' again," he said in his grunt and she laughed then, pulling her head back, beaming up at him and he was smiling, too.

"Nothing ever again. I promise," she said and then lacing her fingers behind his neck, she stood up on her toes and pressed her lips to his. She felt his fingers in her hair and she breathed against his mouth, sinking against him.

They had a get together that afternoon – an open house of sorts to show off the final product – with family and friends and Beth swore her face was starting to hurt because she hadn't stopped smiling all day. Annette was crying, too, as she hugged Beth and then Daryl tightly, telling them how beautiful the house was, though Daryl was pretty sure she was crying with relief now that they had finally moved out of her house after months of staying there.

They had tables set up outside in the yard covered with the food and desserts that everyone had brought with them and Beth dragged Maggie around, showing her every nook and cranny of the house – both inside and out.

"My vegetable garden can be even bigger here," she was saying, showing the spot in the backyard that Daryl had already marked off for her to begin. "And we're going to get a few more chickens, too."

"Still staying self-sufficient?" Maggie asked with a smile, spotting Daryl's familiar deep-freeze where he stored all of the meat he hunted.

"Always," Beth smiled. "Well, what do you think?"

The two sisters turned and looked up at the house.

"It's so beautiful, Bethy," Maggie said without hesitation. "Like one of those houses you see in the magazines. All sunshine and wood and fresh flowers. I hope Glenn knows he's getting an earful on the way home. I'm not going to be living in some crappy apartment for the rest of my life," she said and Beth couldn't help but laugh.

Coming around the house to the front yard, the kids, plus Shawn, were playing on the tire swing and playing tag with one another. Glenn had bought Hunter a marshmallow gun as well as a bag of marshmallows and everyone was getting pelted. Daryl had crouched down behind him to show him how to aim and hit his target and Hunter whooped with joy when he hit Uncle Merle right in the forehead.

Beth went back inside where she found Lori in the kitchen with Lizzie, Carl's girlfriend, along with Annette, who was bouncing Abby on her hip.

"Oh, you don't have to do that!" Beth hurried over to where Lori was loading dirty dishes into the dishwasher. Another treat Daryl had installed for her. "You're the guests," she reminded her.

Lori waved her off with a hand. "You and Daryl have built a house. I think the rest of us can manage cleaning up after ourselves."

"There," Lizzie declared, setting the large bowl of chocolate pudding down on the counter that she had just pulled from the refrigerator where Beth had let her store it. "Do you think it's set enough?" She asked.

"It looks delicious, dear," Annette assured her and Lizzie smiled though she still looked nervous. Annette then leaned into Beth as Beth took Abby from her, holding the infant in her slim, strong arms. "We've been trying to tell her that it's very hard to screw up opening the Jell-O pudding box but she has been a nervous wreck," Annette said in a low whisper and Beth smiled, looking at the girl.

She remembered the first time she ever made anything for Daryl. Chocolate chip cookies – a thank you for changing her flat tire. She had been so nervous handing them to him, hoping he liked them. As her mother said – and almost every other mother – a way to a man's heart was through his stomach.

The back door opened then and Carl and Luke entered the kitchen.

"Mom," Luke frowned the instant he saw her. "Judith won't stop trying to kiss me."

Lori sighed. "That girl is going to make her father a very grey-haired man."

Carl gasped when he saw Lizzie standing at the counter, a large bowl of chocolate pudding in front of her. "My favorite," he said and instantly dunked his finger in, scooping some out, not seeing his mother's frown.

Lizzie beamed happily, her cheeks stained a light pink.

As the sun began to set, everyone began helping cleaning everything up and preparing themselves to leave. Beth hugged everyone and thanked them all for coming and for all of their help with the house and she looked for Daryl but didn't see him anywhere.

Luke and Hunter were so tired from the festivities of the day that when Beth told them to go upstairs and get themselves ready for bed, they gave no argument. Beth waved one more time as her parents were the last to drive off and she then turned off the front porch light, going inside, closing and locking the front door. Even though they had had so many people over that afternoon, everyone had made sure that the house was just as spotless as it had been when they had arrived. There was nothing left for Beth to do except turn off the lights.

She did so slowly, walking through each room, smiling to herself. She wondered if she would ever get used to it. This home was theirs. This big house was all theirs.

Most of the rooms looked so large because they didn't have that much furniture and they probably wouldn't for some time. They had already spent so much money and she knew Daryl wouldn't be looking to spend any more anytime soon. And it didn't really matter to her. The only other thing she wanted was a dining room table but she had promised she wouldn't ask Daryl for anything else so she wouldn't tell him – at least not for a few months.

Once all of the lights were off and the doors were locked, she headed upstairs. Hunter and Luke were both in their pajamas and in the bathroom, standing at the sink, brushing their teeth. She still didn't know where Daryl was but she wasn't worried. She ushered them from the bathroom and tucked Hunter into his bed, kissing him on the head.

"I've never slept without Luke in the room," he then commented.

"I know, sweetie," Beth smiled faintly at him as she sat on the edge of his bed. "But remember what your daddy built for you?" She pointed then to a small door in the wall. "If you get scared and you need Luke, you can just crawl right on through that door to his room. And Luke can crawl in here if he gets scared."

"I won't get scared," Hunter then boasted with confidence that made her smile.

"But you'll be okay if Luke crawls in here?" Beth asked.

"I'll take care of him," he promised then and Beth had to swallow down a laugh. He was such a Dixon. Hunter then grinned up at her. "Did you see the way Luke was running away from Judith today. She's _eight_," he said.

Beth smiled a bit wider and smoothed back some of his hair. He wanted to grow it out like Daryl's right now and rose a fit if he even saw scissors anywhere near him.

"Your brother is growing to be a very handsome young man," she said, smiling as she recalled Judith blushing that afternoon whenever Luke was near and even Lizzie had said that Luke was cute, which Carl had frowned at.

Hunter looked as if that was the most disgusting thing he had ever heard and this time, Beth did laugh. She kissed him on the head and wished him to have a good night. She left, leaving the door open, and went into the room next door where Luke was already in bed, already asleep. She made sure he was covered with the blankets and kissed his head before leaving the room, heading down the hall. She went into the room across from hers and Daryl's, which was now Abby's. She had been put to bed a couple of hours earlier and she was still sleeping deeply in her crib.

When Beth finally walked into the bedroom across the hall, she was not surprised to see that that was where Daryl was – already passed out on their bed, still fully dressed. She had suspected that that's where he was this whole time.

She crossed the room quietly to their bed and making sure she didn't wake him up, she began unlacing his boots and pulling them off his feet, placing them down in the closet. She then began to undress herself, changing from her clothes into one of his flannel shirts. It was really the only thing she ever liked to sleep in.

When she crawled into bed and slipped between the cool sheets, feeling the heat from Daryl's body beside her, she realized just how tired she actually was. It felt like the instant her head touched the pillow, her eyes closed and she feel deeply asleep.

When she woke up again, the sun was just rising, the sky outside pink and purple with dawn and Daryl was no longer in bed with her. She laid there for a moment, listening to the birds chirping outside and she heard movements downstairs, hushed voices, a few pans banging together. She let out a yawn as she sat up, looking to the clock. It was just a few minutes past six. That was actually sleeping in for her.

She pulled herself from the bed and went into their bathroom, smiling faintly as she washed her face with the cold, clear water that was coming out of the pipes. After tugging on a pair on sweatpants and a pair of thick socks – she quickly learned that the floors were incredibly cold just like in their old home – she headed down the stairs, finding everyone in the kitchen.

Daryl was awake, holding Abby in one arm as she sucked on her pacifier and rested her head on his shoulder as if still tired. In his other hand, he held a flipper, scrambling a pan of eggs at the stove. Luke and Hunter were both sitting at the table, Luke eating a piece of dry toast and Hunter drinking from a cup of orange juice. Luke had his sketch pad with him as he almost always did and Hunter was looking through one of his _Highlights_ magazines, trying to find all of the differences between the two pictures. Hunter had grown into not really being a morning person so the mornings, at least for a couple hours, became the one time of the day where they knew they would get some quiet.

"Good morning," Beth smiled upon looking at the scene.

Their first Sunday morning in their new home. And it looked perfect. Like Maggie had said – like something seen in a magazine.

"Good morning," Luke was the only one to respond.

Hunter kept drinking his orange juice and Daryl gave some sort of grunt that she interpreted as a "Good morning, dear. How did you sleep?" She went to the boys, giving each of them a kiss on the head and then went to the stove, kissing Abby on the cheek and then standing on her toes, she gave Daryl a kiss on his chin.

"How'd you sleep?" She asked, taking Abby from him as she stretched her arms, clasping and unclasping her hands for her mama. "I thought you would sleep all day."

Daryl shook his head. "Got some work on the truck I wanna get done today."

She smiled a little and set Abby down in her high chair. "You are allowed to take the day off. It _is _Sunday, the day of rest."

He smirked a little and shrugged. "Got enough sleep last night."

He finished scrambling the eggs and fried some bacon and they all sat at the table, sharing their first breakfast in their new house. They were going to take it easy that day. Beth was going to finish unpacking the rest of their things from the house. Luke was going to go into the woods to sketch tadpoles that he found in the creek the day before and Hunter was eager to help Daryl with the truck. Hunter had begun to show interest in something other than causing trouble and that was learning about cars. And Daryl was downright eager to teach his son everything he knew.

It was a quiet day. A perfect day.

Beth opened the windows in the house so the light breeze could float into the house and Abby played on the floor of the living room, throwing her toys and laughing as she crawled to fetch them again. After about an hour of this, Beth scooped Abby up in her arms, resting her on her hip, and went out onto the front porch, seeing Daryl and Hunter both under the truck, only their feet and Daryl's legs visible.

"We have a problem," Beth said with no other precursor.

A moment later, Daryl pulled himself out from under the truck and he helped Hunter get out safely without conking his head. "What?" He asked, standing up, wiping his hands on a rag he had in his back pocket.

"I keep losing Abby," Beth admitted. "This house is so much bigger…"

He looked at her for a moment and then smirked a little. "Thought you wanted me to spend my Sunday, restin'," he said, teasing her a little. Beth looked at him and smiled, letting out a huff of laughter. "You sayin' I can rest after I build some baby gates?" He joked.

"Or I can just lock her in the study for the afternoon," Beth mused as Abby grabbed a lock of her hair and tried to start sucking on it.

"Thought that's what we decided on usin' the room for anyway," he smiled a little. He finished wiping his hands and handed Hunter the rag who mirrored his actions. Daryl then put a hand on the boy's head. "Let's go get some wood. Got enough left over to build a gate or two."

"You're the best husband in the world," Beth smiled warmly at him.

"I thought you promised me you would never ask for anythin' again after I built you a house," he reminded her, his lips threatening to turn upwards in a smile the longer her looked up at her and Beth's smile was warm and infectious and only grew.

"I'll make it worth your while," she teased him.

"Last time you told me that, we got a kid out of it," he replied back and her laughter echoed through the afternoon air.

They had a dinner of roasted rabbit, rice and green beans and for once, Luke was the difficult one at the table, hating any and all food that was green and Daryl wouldn't let him leave the table until he ate every single green bean on his plate. After the dishes were put in the dishwasher and the kitchen was wiped down for the night, Beth sat down at the piano and tried to write a few bars of a song she had been working on though hadn't had time to really focus on with everything else happening at the same time.

Tomorrow, it was back to life. Daryl had work and Beth had work and Luke and Hunter had to get to school but summer vacation was almost upon them and Beth was already imagining hosting a Fourth of July barbecue at their house that year.

They went about their nightly rituals, getting the kids ready for bed and tucking them in and by the time they could get themselves ready for sleep, Daryl collapsed onto their bed in their room and Beth closed the door behind them.

"You can't sleep in your pants," she told him, approaching the bed. "You did that last night and I hate feeling your jeans against my legs."

With that, she reached out and pushing his shirt up, her fingers popped open the button of his jeans and began lowering the zipper. And with his stomach exposed, she felt herself nearly licking her lips. Tanned and defined with muscles and dusted with hair, she had never been a girl who went crazy over a male's body but that was only because she hadn't seen Daryl's and the first time she did see his body, she was completely hooked. Even after all of this time, he could get her so turned on from doing nothing more than stretching his arms above his head, lifting his shirt up and showing off a sliver of his stomach.

Now, she didn't fight what she wanted and she leaned over, pressing her lips to his stomach directly below his bellybutton and she smiled against his skin when she felt him practically shiver.

"Whatcha doin'?" He asked, his voice already low and rough and his fingers already in her hair.

She looked at him for a moment before lowering her lips again, moving them a fraction of an inch lower, heading towards his boxers.

She didn't answer him. She knew it wasn't exactly even. Not by a long shot. A blowjob for a house like this but she knew that he knew that that wasn't why she was doing this and she also knew she and Daryl weren't exactly keeping score like that. They never did something like that. And even if they were, she knew Daryl would make sure that she won. Because that was just the kind of man Daryl Dixon was.

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


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